This Man Turned Three Bad Ideas Into Fortune 500 Companieshttp://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-bad-ideas-turned-into-fortune-500-companies-2011-11/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Mon, 19 Mar 2018 09:37:43 -0400Jim Cliftonhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/4eccc49469beddac65000001Jeffrey BaumgartnerWed, 23 Nov 2011 05:01:56 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4eccc49469beddac65000001
I don't believe we should entirely dismiss the quality of the ideas here.
Without discrediting Wayne Huizenga's obvious skills and determination (which many commentators here seem to be doing; presumably they are also successful founders of billion dollar companies and let us hope they will kindly share their insights in upcoming articles -- the only other explanation for their dismissing of Wayne's ability would be sour grapes and I just can't believe that... but I digress), it is clear that he has a better ability than most to recognise a viable business idea.
Waste management, video rentals and used car lots may not have SEEMED like good ideas to most, but as Wayne was able to turn each of them into a successful business, he clearly recognised the potential of the ideas. After all, he presumably rejected many alternative ideas before making the decisions that would become the cornerstone of each business.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc633aecad04316900001eanonymous1Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:06:34 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc633aecad04316900001e
Interesting article - a little extreme (ideas + execution is what matters I believe) but still interesting.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc21d9ecad046272000014wtf?Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:27:37 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc21d9ecad046272000014
Entrepreneurs are the 1%
..therefore they need to be taxed until their ears bleed so all of us in the 99% can feel better about being less successful in life amen.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc165369bedd697c00002emjmillerTue, 22 Nov 2011 16:38:27 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc165369bedd697c00002e
@DCFan I couldn't agree more, and my first thought was what the hell did you'all create. It takes more than money to create successful a business!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc15256bb3f73a5400004fFabTue, 22 Nov 2011 16:33:25 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc15256bb3f73a5400004f
You have just given a "Lectio Magistralis"!!!!
Thank you very much and sincere congratulations!!
Anyway, in my view as an outsider, the problem is that you Americans are obsessed on making money but the most successful entrepreneurs are driven by a burning passion and not money!!
Unfortunately, it's a common problem of nearly any western country!!
The solution key is teaching creativity and happiness!! In other words, to change things there should be a total revolution of the education system!!
All the best.
Fab, greetings from Italy.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc074a69bedd805c00004eDCFanTue, 22 Nov 2011 15:34:18 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc074a69bedd805c00004e
Three ideas that became Fortune 500 companies can somehow be labeled as bad is about the stupidest thing I've heard today. Sounds like sour grapes to me.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc00efecad04eb2100005atodddTue, 22 Nov 2011 15:07:11 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecc00efecad04eb2100005a
To be fair, all of Wayne's ideas were not bad. And they were not new. I'm sure he used a touch of graft and political pull to get Waste Management to fly. Maybe the guy is "connected", if you know what I mean. Maybe that makes him a good entrepreneur?
Autonation is just a used car lot. Blockbuster is just a video rental place. Neither idea was bad, neither was new. Huzienga simply had the CASH to make them national chains. That's really the difference.
And where are they now? Aside from WM? Er, in the toilet.
Wayne couldn't start Blockbuster without the billions he had in WM. He's not superman, just super-positioned.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbffbdecad040122000058Part 2Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:02:05 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbffbdecad040122000058
More importantly Huizengas's Waste Management success could not have happened till the mob was severely weakened because of RICO.
Plot it in a timeline and you'll see his ability to concentrate WM correlates with the Fed's prosecution of organized crime.
Huizenga happened to be lucky. If he tried it a decade earlier he would have been wearing concrete boots.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbfeb6ecad04ab3000001atodddTue, 22 Nov 2011 14:57:42 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbfeb6ecad04ab3000001a
I agree with this somewhat. Society for the past 1/2 century has created a rut for people to fall into and successfully live a happy life. There have been paths to success that are not self-made. And so for the past 50 or so years, people have simply followed the rules.
Get an education, get a job. Go work in the mail room and work your way up to executive. Go to law school, become an accountant, make boat loads of money.
Those paths are evaporating. Now we're going back to the barter days where a person has to sell themselves on the street or start a business on their own. Or go door-to-door selling stuff.
People are unfamiliar with working without a safety net. Maybe they should teach entrepreneurship in school. Classes in how to network, how to start a small business, how to function outside of big corporations or not depending on others to hire you...http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbfc766bb3f7062800001aSteve WTue, 22 Nov 2011 14:48:06 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbfc766bb3f7062800001a
You didn't even read this article, did you....http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbf1bb69bedda23700003fRightLiesTue, 22 Nov 2011 14:02:19 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbf1bb69bedda23700003f
None of Wayne's companies added any real ulitity and did not "create" new jobs. That's the difference between innovation and the next marketing gimmick. Sure Wayne created vertical monopolies that allowed him to create some pricing and branding advantages. Which is all you need to succeed as a business. But from a macro-economic prospective Wayne simple took jobs and customers from small businesses.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbef1eecad04bb10000018stevexTue, 22 Nov 2011 13:51:10 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbef1eecad04bb10000018
Good***http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbee1869beddee39000019stevexTue, 22 Nov 2011 13:46:48 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/4ecbee1869beddee39000019
Goos read and it's spot on.
Higher education systemically trains people to be employees and kills creativity.
The way it should be is that all those STEM students should be required to create a start-up..no bullshit "VC PITCHING CLASSES" like you have at business schools,
Start/Create an idea, put it into work and go!!